


The Ship of Theseus

by psychicmewhealer



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Romance, Angst with a Happy Ending, Childhood Trauma, Comfort, Comfort/Angst, Cyborgs, Dialogue-Only, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Heavy Angst, Hurt Nebula (Marvel), Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Massage, Nebula Angst (Marvel), Nebula Feels (Marvel), Nebula Has Issues (Marvel), Nebula Needs a Hug (Marvel), Nebula-centric (Marvel), Odin (Marvel)'s A+ Parenting, One Shot, Past Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Past Child Abuse, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Short, Short & Sweet, Short One Shot, Spooning, Thor (Marvel) Needs a Hug, Thor (Marvel) is a Good Bro, Touching, Touchy-Feely, nebula has tinnitus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:02:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24815776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psychicmewhealer/pseuds/psychicmewhealer
Summary: Post-Endgame. The Guardians leave Thor and Nebula alone in theBenatar. Nebula asks Thor for a massage. He obliges.--Or: Thor and Nebula give each other therapy, cry a lot, and now I ship them for some reason.
Relationships: Nebula/Thor (Marvel)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	The Ship of Theseus

**Author's Note:**

> Why am I only writing Marvel fanfic? Well hopefully Death Note fanfic will happen at some point in the far future. Maybe Epic of Gilgamesh fanfic. Who knows.

###  Post- _Endgame_. The Guardians leave Thor and Nebula alone in the _Benatar_. Nebula asks Thor for a massage. He obliges.

Your Highness. Thanks so much for agreeing to do this. Sorry, I’m probably wasting your time.

**Not at all.**

Can you start over there? On the left shoulder blade. That would help. Thank you.

Thanks. This is really helping me. It can get sharp.

You know I can’t taste, Thor? My tongue can feel, but it can’t taste. I don’t remember taste.

Hypothetically, there exists a ship. The ship of Theseus, it’s called. Over the years, the ship decayed, and part by part was replaced. A century later, no part is original. Is it the same ship? Does the ship of Theseus exist anymore?

It hurts. It hurts not existing.

Can you get it there? There? To the right a bit. Thanks. There’s the crack.

You wouldn’t know the feeling. Every bone, every muscle, every finger is designed to fight, to appease your father. The whole doesn’t matter at that point. We are but a collection of parts, no more than the sum. The whole can fight, but not much else. The rest roils in agony.

You’re running out of oil. Can you get some more oil on your hands? That would help. Thaaaaaank you.

Can you detach my hand? I’d do it myself, but you’re doing too good of a job with everything. Thank you.

I wish I could cry right now. I don’t know. I have to prove I can feel. My tear ducts are too small. I can get misty but I can’t cry. I can’t cry and I can’t taste.

They’re not enhancements, by the way. You haven’t done it, but don’t call them enhancements. They’re mutilations. You don’t know how much it hurts, Thor. You don’t know. It hurts every second.

What’s it called, the loud ringing that never stops, never stops, oh God, the buzzing, I think it cleans me but I don’t know, I’m sorry, I should be quiet.

**No, go on.**

Do you know what it’s called?

**Tinnitus, I think.**

Thank you, thank you. Can you keep going?

**Scalp, yes?**

Thank you.

I feel like I have to do you later now. I probably won’t do as good a job, but just to thank you.

Do you think Gamora would love me? If she were here?

Do you think?

**You were wrong. I do know the feeling where every every bone and tooth and muscle is for the sole purpose of appeasing my father.**

**I, too, battled my brother to be worthy of the throne and my father’s love. Day in and day out, never ceasing. Every time we fought I won against my brother, for my father.**

**Let me get in that crack. Ohhh. There we go.**

**With this background, I might be able to stand in your late sister’s shoes and answer your question.**

**I don’t know if I love him.**

**I haven’t felt anything for a while. I don’t know if it’s my mind protecting me or working to soften the blow. It’s a hole now.**

**Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.**

No, you can keep talking if you like.

**My mother is dead. My father is dead. My best friend is dead. My brother is dead. What is there to live for?**

**You’ve gone through Niflheim and back to save the universe from your own family. I can’t even move without mine. You can fight forever. I fight till the applause stops. Then I stop breathing.**

**I don’t know why my hammer keeps coming to me.**

Stop.

**Talking or massaging?**

The hammer was made at whose behest?

**My father’s.**

It’s not royal tradition. It’s paternal manipulation. You look at that hammer and question whether you’re enough, just like he wanted you to do. Mjolnir is an extension of your father’s power. It doesn’t matter what your dad thinks, and it doesn’t matter what your hammer thinks. I might not be more than scrap metal, but I’m not going to let one more tyrant father destroy his child.

I love you. I don’t care if you fail. I don’t care if you fall on me. I don’t care if you can’t do anything. I don’t care if you fail at everything you try. I’ll do all the failing for you.

**You’re misty.**

Stop projecting.

Can I lean on you? Can we be together?

**My father broke me five thousand years, replacing bit by bit with what would please him. We can rebuild ourselves together. We can sail through the cosmos side by side as the broken ships we are.**

Side by side ― or one on top of the other. I call little spoon.

**Consent to kiss?**

On the cheek is fine for now.

I can lay down without back pain. This has to be a regular thing. 

**Ha. Maybe. You do me first.**


End file.
